Bangkok has never been particularly shy about the hotel buffet. In a city where weekend brunches can stretch well into the afternoon and seafood counters are judged partly by the height of their crab legs, abundance is often part of the attraction.
At Espresso, the all-day dining restaurant at InterContinental Bangkok, that appetite for excess is being channelled into the Premium Seafood Dinner Buffet, served five nights a week. The emphasis is firmly on the sea: oysters, lobster, king crab, prawns and roe arrive chilled, grilled, roasted and baked in salt.
The cold counter makes the most persuasive opening argument. Irish and Fine de Claire oysters share space with Avruga caviar, salmon roe and black and red lumpfish roe. Nearby are steamed Golden King crab legs, Canadian lobster, New Zealand green mussels, swimmer crab and two kinds of prawns. It is the sort of display that encourages diners to abandon any carefully considered plan of attack.
But the meal becomes more interesting once fire enters the picture. At the barbecue station, salmon is paired with dill cream sauce and tiger prawns with caper butter. The standout Thai-inflected dish is goong ob samoon pai, roasted Sri Lankan river prawns with Thai herbs and a peanut chilli sauce — a reminder that even an international hotel buffet in Bangkok works best when it allows a little of the city into the dining room.
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Seafood does not have the room entirely to itself. Australian Wagyu steak and New Zealand lamb T-bone come off the grill, while the carvery offers herb-roasted Australian beef striploin. A Chinese barbecue counter adds roasted duck, crispy pork belly and barbecue pork.
Dessert returns to familiar pleasures. Crêpes Suzette are prepared live with a choice of toppings, alongside mango sticky rice, seasonal fruit and a chocolate fountain. On Friday and Saturday evenings, live music adds another layer to what is clearly intended to be a long, unhurried dinner.
The buffet is served Wednesday through Sunday from 6 to 10.30 p.m. Prices are 2,250 baht++ per person on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 2,350 baht++ on Friday and Saturday. Drinks packages range from an additional 200 baht++ for unlimited juices and soft drinks to 2,300 baht++ for a package that includes unlimited Champagne.
In a city hardly short of extravagant buffets, Espresso is not trying to reinvent the form. Instead, it embraces what Bangkok diners have long enjoyed about it: choice, spectacle and the agreeable possibility of going back for one more oyster.
